[NLRS] Mystery Dongle...

[Doug Reed]

I agree with Zack. It is a simple DVB-T dongle and can probably be
used as a cheap SDR receiver. I've used primarily the SDR# (SDRsharp)
software and found it fairly easy to use. The web site for SDR#
software is <http://airspy.com/download/> but you will find lots of
other options at the site Zack mentioned. Last I checked they had an
install file that downloaded the latest software and support files
then installed it all for you. But I think you still had to install
the proper dotNET files yourself.

Two caveats on the SDR# software..... They recently changed so it
doesn't run on Win XP any more, and they now require dotNET v4.6 to
support the program. That may effect your installation. I stopped
upgrading my SDR# a few months ago when these changes came in.... But
I did install it on a $50 Win 8.1 tablet and it was running fine for
me. You can email Donn WA2VOI to find out the problems he had when
trying to install it....

The Osmocom.org web site is one of the original sources of rtl-sdr
info. On the Osmocom web site, note that there are a lot of different
kinds of these dongles and they tend to have different capabilities.
You may need to just plug your's in and go through the Windows Control
Panel to get the USB Device ID number so you can search in their table
of dongles to find out what you have.
<http://sdr.osmocom.org/trac/wiki/rtl-sdr>

There is a LOT of good reading out there once you get started. As I've
mentioned before, you can find a description of how to "calibrate" the
dongle to about 1PPM by using ATSC/HDTV carrier signals as a known
frequency standard.

I think of the dongle as a cheap piece of RF test equipment..... On
the low end you can get one from China for about $10. If you want one
intended for hams you can get an excellent $25 dongle from rtl-sdr.com
and add a $55 up-converter to get HF if you want it. After that you go
up as far over $100 as you want with other SDR projects. But for $25
or less you can have a lot of fun.....

73, Doug Reed, N0NAS.